Skip to content

Fracking

For-Profit Pipeline Company Claims ‘Public Benefit’ In Seizing Private Lands

By Larry Buhl for Desmog Blog. New and protracted battles in the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) war are breaking out across Pennsylvania and other states near the Marcellus Shale over pipeline companies’ use of eminent domain. The fiercest battle pits Philadelphia-based Sunoco Logistics against homeowners in the path of a pipeline that crosses Pennsylvania. In a controversial move invoking eminent domain, Sunoco aims to seize private lands to make room for a pipeline extension that would move highly volatile liquids (HVL) used in the making of plastics from the Marcellus Shale region to eastern Pennsylvania. With an air of inevitability, opponents say, Sunoco is planning to move ahead with Mariner East II, a retrofit and extension of an existing east-west pipeline that was once used to ship gasoline westward from Philadelphia’s refineries.

Earthquake Rattles Oklahoma Amid Warnings Of ‘Inherent’ Fracking Risks

By Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams - Oklahoma was hit with a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Saturday, with reports of tremors felt in six neighboring states—making it one of the strongest quakes in Oklahoma's history and fueling a growing consensus that the cause lies with wastewater disposal from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. CNN reported that the event also rattled Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and Iowa, citing geophysicists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), who said it "occurred as the result of shallow strike-slip faulting."

‘Won’t Accept Destruction’: Global Communities Line Up To Ban Fracking

By Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams - Around the world, resistance is growing to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as more and more communities line up to ban the controversial fossil fuel extraction method from their lands. On Tuesday, Victoria, Australia's Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the state is set to introduce a permanent ban on all onshore unconventional gas exploration, including fracking and other methods like gas mining, making it the first state in the nation to do so.

Colorado Anti-Fracking Activists Fall Short In Ballot Efforts

By Zahra Hirji for Inside Climate News - Two anti-fracking initiatives did not get enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, Colorado officials announced on Monday, giving the oil and gas industry its latest victory over communities seeking to exert local control over fracking. This was the second time Coloradans concerned about the environmental, public health and economic impacts of hydraulic fracturing and related oil and gas activity have tried to restrict the industry through ballot initiatives.

Ohio Residents Clash With State And County Gov In Fight To Ban Fracking

By Simon Davis-Cohen for Desmog - For years, local Ohioans have been told by courts and elected officials that they have no control over fracking — “it is a matter of state law.” However, groups of determined residents are refusing to accept this argument, taking steps to establish local democratic control over what they see as vital societal questions of health, safety, and planetary survival. But not without resistance from their own governments.

Climate Activists Disrupt American Petroleum Institute Event At DNC

By Desiree Kane an Anthony Rogers-Wright. Philadelphia, PA - Today environmental activists, Indigenous youth, and other concerned citizens disrupted a Politico event sponsored the American Petroleum Institute, the leading American trade group of the fossil fuel industry. The event, “Energy and the Election at the DNC”, featured prominent Democratic lawmakers and energy advisors including, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Ed Rendell, former PA Gov., Trevor Houser, Hillary For America Energy Policy Advisor, and Heather Zichal, former Obama climate official. More than a dozen activists were forcibly removed from the event after openly criticizing the fossil fuel industry and entrenched political leaders. Additionally, activists dropped a 400-sq-foot banner from the building across the street, and picketed the entrance to the event as it began.

Did Industry Ties Lead Democrats To Nix Fracking Ban?

By Steve Horn for DeSmog Blog. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) — the controversial horizontal drilling technique used to extract oil and gas in shale basins around the U.S. and the world — has sat at the center of the debate over the Democratic Party's draft platform set for a vote at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) convention in Philadelphia July 25-28. That platform was drafted and debated by a 15-member committee, with four members chosen by DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, five by Bernie Sanders and six by presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. After a fracking moratorium clause failed in a 7-6 vote at the DNC Platform Committee meeting held in St. Louis, Missouri from June 24-25, an amendment calling for President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan not to incentivize fracked gas power plants also did not pass at the July 8-9 DNC Platform Committee meeting held in Orlando, Florida.

Federal Agents Went Undercover To Spy on Anti-Fracking Movement

By Lee Fang and Steve Horn for The Intercept - WHEN MORE THAN 300 protesters assembled in May at the Holiday Inn in Lakewood, Colorado — the venue chosen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for an auction of oil and gas leases on public lands — several of the demonstrators were in fact undercover agents sent by law enforcement to keep tabs on the demonstration, according to emails obtained by The Intercept. The “Keep it in the Ground” movement, a broad effort to block the development of drilling projects...

Massive Climate, Anti-TPP March Planned Before DNC

By Nika Knight for Common Dreams. Philadelphia, PA - Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have conclusively shown that living close to fracking operations significantly increases asthma sufferers' risks of attacks, adding urgency to the battle against fracking within the Democratic Party as it prepares to convene in Philadelphia next week. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at 35,000 medical records in Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2012. The state has long been host to a controversial fracking boom, and many have clamored for politicians to pay attention to the industry's irreversible damage to the land and human health. "This study's findings confirm what we have known for years—that fracking is an inherently hazardous process that threatens human health and safety every day. More than 17 million Americans live within a mile of a fracking site, and they are all at risk,"

Banner Drop At Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

By Robby Diesu for Popular Resistance. Five activists took part in an action this morning to scale a pair of 60-foot flagpoles at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, attaching a 625-square-foot banner. Three activists were arrested by the Cleveland Police Department. The team of activists involved in the fight against fracking and the immigration justice movement took action to show the interconnected nature of these fights for justice. Activists hope to demonstrate that while Trump is calling for the building of a wall with Mexico, social movements are breaking down the barriers that have prevented them from working together. “Through the power of direct action, our movements can and will stop the hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump, and continue to push Hillary Clinton to ban fracking and stop the deportations.”

Fracking Foes Take Their Protest To Regulator’s Front Door

By Jonathan Crawford for Bloomberg - Tony Clark was wrapping up dinner with his family when the doorbell rang. He didn’t need to answer. He already knew who it was. Anti-fracking activists had followed him home, taping “wanted-style” posters with his face plastered on them across his leafy suburban neighborhood outside of Washington. Coming up to his front door was the last straw. He called the police. And as they arrived, Clark’s 9-year-old son asked: “Why are the police here? Is it because you work for the government?"

Obama: Meet With Fracking Impacted Communities Abandoned By Government

By Seth Gladstone for Food and Water Watch - Washington, D.C. – Today, more than 100 families personally affected by fracking sent a letter to President Obama asking for him to meet with them in advance of the Democratic National Convention, where impacted people from across the country will be coming to participate in a march calling for a ban on fracking and extreme fossil fuel extraction and a swift transition to renewables. “We are here to ask you and ranking EPA officials to meet with our families to hear the personal testimonies...

Public Herald Calls For Criminal Investigation Over Water

By Melissa Troutman and Joshua Pribanic for Public Herald. Pittsburgh, PA - Investigative news nonprofit Public Herald and more than 50 organizations and individuals (including Green Party Candidate for President, Jill Stein) are calling for a federal criminal investigation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) “for failing to act on drinking water contamination related to shale hydrocarbon development, a.k.a. fracking, and placing public health at risk.” An open letter and petition calling for the federal investigation has been published at Change.org and is currently receiving signatures. The request cites evidence from a 30-month investigation by Public Herald which found “nine ways DEP systematically keeps water contamination cases ‘off the books.’”

Obama Admin Approved Over 1,500 Offshore Fracking Permits

By Steve Horn for Desmog - On June 24, the independent news website TruthOut broke a doozy of a story: the Obama Administration hassecretly approved over 1,500 instances of offshore hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the Gulf of Mexico, including during the Deepwater Horizon offshore spill disaster. Albeit released on a Friday, a day where many mainstream media reporters head out of the office early and venture to late-afternoon and early-evening Happy Hour specials at the bars, the TruthOut story has received deafening silence by the corporate-owned media apparatus.

26 Pipeline Fighters Arrested In West Roxbury

By Nancy Wilson for Resist the Pipeline & Stop the West Roxbury Lateral. Twenty-six people were arrested for disrupting cement pouring at the construction site of the controversial West Roxbury Lateral pipeline. The West Roxbury Lateral is part of Spectra Energy’s massive pipeline expansion project, which aims to transport gas from the shalefields of Pennsylvania through the Northeastern United States to Canada, where several large Liquefied Natural Gas export terminals are being built. This project has been met with massive public dissidence from local residents of West Roxbury and their many allies. In addition to the 26 arrestees, at least 100 sang, chanted, held banners and stood in solidarity with them as they were handcuffed and driven away in police wagons. Organizers are expecting upwards of 125 people to risk arrest over the course of the week and hundreds more to rally in support of this week of actions, which they are calling, “Escalation Summer”.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.